Dinner with the Parents
by Here'sWaldo
Summary: Wayne Fields returns home at the worst possible moment and it leads to a Fields/McCullers dinner.


Paige collapsed onto Emily's bed in an exhausted heap. Swim practice had been brutal. It had been brutal all week in preparation for an important meet. And her father had had her training twice as hard for recruiters. She also hadn't slept a full night since the Nate incident. Emily was in the same position but she was hardly ever alone at night and, therefore, got a lot more sleep. Hanna or Spencer slept over most nights. Aria when they couldn't.

Emily chuckled as she took off Paige's shoes and then lay down partially on top of her.

"Today was rough." Emily sighed.

"All of the days are rough." Paige mumbled dramatically.

Emily just laughed and began placing lazy kisses on her neck and jaw. Paige turned her head partially and captured Emily's lips in a proper kiss letting her tongue trace Emily's lips before parting them. Emily broke away after a few minutes of heated kissing.

"So, did you want to take a nap before my mom gets home?" Emily teased as she placed gentle kisses behind her ear.

"Um… something like that." Paige rolled Emily onto her back and began trailing kisses down her neck. A hidden reserve of energy helped them remove clothes at a record pace.

Paige climbed up Emily's body and collapsed on top of her. Emily put two shaky arms around her and turned them so she was holding her from behind.

"I don't understand how you are so good at that." Emily said with a still shaky voice.

"Well, I am a swimmer. I can hold my breath for a really long time…"

"Gross." Emily responded with a chuckle pulling Paige closer. "I don't know why we aren't just always doing this." She whispered in Paige's ear.

"We are idiots."

"Mmmm…"

"I should probably get home before. My dad comes looking for me."  
"Yeah…"

But neither made much of an effort to move. They drifted off to sleep content for the first time in awhile.

"Emmy! What the… EMMY!"

Emily and Paige woke up with a start to face Wayne Fields staring down at them in shock. Emily's first response was a burst of joy at just seeing her father followed by immediate shock at the situation. Seeing her mother follow behind him just made it worse.

"Daddy! You're back early… we can explain."

"I am going to go downstairs. You should be down there in under a minute."

"Shit. Shit. Shit." Paige started mumbling as she rushed to get her clothes together.

"Paige. Calm down. My dad is a teddy bear. It will be fine."

"A teddy bear?! A teddy bear who is a trained killer and who just looked at me like I defiled his perfect daughter."

"Okay. Well, more like a GI Joe Teddy Bear combo. But, still, calm down this will be fine."

"He is going to murder me. Or he will tell my father and he will murder me. He hasn't figured out that lesbians can have sex, yet. It is the only reason he never completely flipped out about it."  
"He hasn't figured out… What does he think.. OK, that isn't important right now. Baby, calm down. Lets go downstairs and get this over with."

When they reached the living room, Emily attempted to hold Paige's hand in solidarity but Paige pulled away as if she had been burnt. Emily rolled her eyes and Pam chuckled slightly at the actions. Wayne simply glowered.

"Daddy, you are home early!" Emily pointed out.

"Yes, I wanted to surprise my favorite daughter." He responded. "I assume you are Paige?"

"Yes, sir. It is nice to finally meet you, sir. Emily speaks of you fondly, sir."

"Oh, so you two manage to find time for conversation?!"

"Daddy…"

"Emmy, I am so disappointed in you. You know the rules in this house. You knew this would not be allowed. You have disrespected me and you have disrespected your mother and you have disrespected yourself. "

"Daddy…" Emily's eyes began to fill with tears and for the first time the reality began to set in. Her father wasn't looking at her like she was the eight year old depicted in the picture in his wallet. She didn't think she would miss that so much.

"I should probably go." Paige said quietly. "It really is nice to finally meet you, sir."

"Yes, you should definitely go."

"Wayne. That is enough. I think you need to cool down before we discuss this some more. Paige, how did you get here?"

"Emily drove me, Mrs. Fields. But I will walk…."

"The most important rule in this house is no young girl walks alone at night. Emily give her a ride home and then come right back." She gave Paige an unexpected squeeze on the shoulder in solidarity.

As soon as they were out the door Wayne turned on Pam.

"How are you so OK with this? Aren't you the same person who lectured me about our values? Emily is too young to be having sex. This girl is clearly a bad influence."

"I am not OK with this. A year ago if you told me my daughter was having sex I would have sent her to boarding school. If you told me she was having sex with a girl I would have sent her to a convent. But she is not the same person she was a year ago."

"I know she has had some troubles but that doesn't mean we have to let her run around. Let this girl…"

"Wayne, 'this girl' follows Emily around like a love sick puppy. She would rush into a burning building for her. Literally. Because that is practically what she did when that boy tricked her into being kidnapped. Trust me, Paige isn't leading Emily anywhere. And, Wayne, you weren't here. You didn't see Emily day in and day out miserable and sobbing over Maya. This girl makes her smile. She makes her laugh. It is like a miracle. No one was able to do that. Not even her friends."

"So, what? We should just tell them to put a sock on the door?"

"No. We have rules. And they have to follow them. And we will make sure Emily is aware of that. And punished. But this isn't the end of the world. Wayne, our daughter had to kill a man. She lost someone she loved. She lost two people she loved. She isn't a child anymore. She is more adult than most women my age."

"I can't believe you are taking this so well."

"I am just so grateful that my daughter is alive. I am so glad I can hug her when she walks in the door. And make her favorite food. And go to her swim meets. It is all that matters."

"Alright, I will grant you that that was really bad." Emily said with a shaky voice. Despite her internal panic, Paige got it together enough to reach out and hug her.

"It will be alright, Em. He was just in shock. He caught his only daughter naked in bed with a girl."  
"This isn't a gay thing. It was way better that you were a girl. If that had been Ben he would have killed him."

"Well, I never thought I would say this, but I sure wish you had been in bed with Ben, then."

Emily chuckled.

"As bad as today was I still wouldn't want to have been in bed with anyone but you."

"So cheesy, Fields." Paige pretended to roll her eyes as Emily said this. But she leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips. "You better go back before he comes looking for you. Text me, later."

Emily entered the house with dread. Her parents were still in the living room but it felt less tense.

"Emily come in and sit down." Pam said sternly. "You know what you did will not be tolerated in this home."

"Yes, mom. But…"

"Not buts. Nothing like this will ever happen again. Do you hear me?"

Emily just remained silent. There was no arguing with her parents in that moment but she wasn't going to lie and say she would never sleep with Paige again or even that she wouldn't do so in the house.

"Now, we would like to get together with the McCullers. And have a more official get together." Wayne said.

"What?! Why?!" Emily said in a panic. "I don't think bringing Paige's family into this is necessary. I am sorry you guys had to walk in on that but…"

"Obviously, you are more serious about this girl than I knew. Is that the case or is this just something you do casually?" Wayne asked.

"We are serious. We are very serious." Emily responded.

"Well, then we should meet the parents."

"They already hate me enough already. There is no reason to tell them about this."

"We aren't going to tell them about this." Pam said. "The last thing anyone wants or needs is an irate Nick McCullers on our doorstep. It will be a friendly get together."

"Friendly?"

"Well, we will be friendly."

Emily sat at the lunch table telling her friends about the encounter of the previous night. It was hard to get the story out over Hanna's loud laughter.

"I know it seems bad now but it will be fine." Aria stated. "Like how last night Ezra…"

"Well, lookie here. If it isn't the stud." Spencer cut Aria off as Paige approached them.  
"Oh good, I was hoping everyone would know by now." Paige said with a sigh as she joined the girls.

"Sorry. We don't really have any secrets." Emily said while giving her a brief peck on the cheek.

"I already knew something was up." Hanna said. "Your mom invited my mom, me and Creepy Ted to diner with you and the McCullers."  
"What? Why didn't you say something?"

"I was going to but this story was too hilarious to interrupt."

"Why would she invite you guys?"

"Well, Paige's family are into the church and Creepy Ted is a Pastor so I guess she figured they would know each other. And it would make it less awkward."

"When have you ever made any situation less awkward?" Spencer asked.

"I know right! It makes no sense." Hanna agreed. "My mom is excited though. She has never been considered respectable company before!"

"Do you think they are going to tell my parents what happened?"

"They said they wouldn't but I don't know. I hope not they already hate me enough."

"They don't hate you exactly…" Paige said weakly. It had gotten to the point where her parents were asking all of their friends if they knew any nice lesbians to introduce to their daughter. It was amazing how comfortable they were with her dating a girl as long as it wasn't Emily.

"They definitely hate you." Spencer agreed.  
"I mean obviously. You almost got their daughter killed and you made her gay."

"Hanna!" Aria tried to stop her.

"I didn't make her gay. It is impossible to make someone gay." Emily protested.

"Oh, I don't know. I remember in ninth grade you dressed up like Pocahontas for Halloween. Maybe that didn't turn me gay but I was definitely a little bit more gay after I saw that."

Emily blushed and lightly punched Paige while the other girls laughed.

"Yeah, I think I was a little bit gay after that, too." Spencer added.

"Weird, your Queen Elizabeth costume didn't impact my level of gayness, at all." Emily responded.

"It was Mary Queen of Scots. And I acknowledge that costume was a mistake. I am way more of a Queen Elizabeth."

After that the lunch went on uneventfully. Aria finally got out all of the Ezra stories that had been bubbling inside her as the other girls had insisted on talking about other things.

The McCullers arrived at exactly 7:00 pm for dinner. The Marins had not arrived, yet. Neither of these things was a surprise.

"Colonel Fields. Pam. Thank you for inviting us to your home." Nick said in a routine way.

"We brought some desert." Anna McCullers said cheerfully.  
"How thoughtful." Pam said warmly. "Come in. Welcome, Paige. Don't you look lovely?" Paige was wearing a dark skirt with a cardigan.

"Thank you. And thank you for inviting me Mrs. Fields. Hello Colonel Fields." Paige said while blushing furiously under his gaze.

"Paige. Come in."

Emily smiled warmly at Paige when she arrived and looked her up and down. It was the first time she had seen her in a skirt since their first date. But she resisted the urge to tease her about it because it would just make her more nervous.

After a few awkward moments the Marins arrived. Ashley had brought wine and introductions were made all around.

"Are you wearing a skirt?" Hanna cornered Paige and asked immediately. "I don't think I have ever seen you in a skirt. It looks wrong."

"Thanks, Hanna." Paige responded sarcastically. She felt fairly at ease with all of Emily's friends, at this point. But Hanna was the only one she felt completely comfortable around. Mostly because she had joined her and Em on most of their dates while she and Caleb were pretending to be broken up.

"Don't be nervous. Emily's dad is a great guy. He is like the best guy I have ever known. Sure, the list of great guys I have known is pretty short. But still."

"Yeah but you never defiled his daughter."

"Well we have had some hardcore cuddling. Hardcore. Just not naked."

"You don't know what you are missing." Paige said with a smile, which made Hanna laugh.

Dinner was awkward but not as awkward as it could have been. Ted and Nick had been working with each other at the Church quite a bit. And both were interested in Colonel Fields's war experiences. Ashley, Pam and Anna kept up a robust conversation. The addition of the Marins had been a stroke of genius on Pam's part turning a "meet the parents" dinner into something more casual.

Without the ability to distance himself with hostility, for fear

of Emily's father, Nick McCullers had to admit to himself that Emily was essentially a sweet girl. A sweet girl whose father seemed so upset about her recent history that he was determined to lock her in a tower, which Nick found comforting. He, himself, would love to ship Paige off to a convent but didn't want to put up with the fight from his wife.

As dinner wrapped up Colonel Fields trapped Paige alone in the kitchen.

"Hello, sir, dinner was excellent. Thank you for having me over." The words fell out of Paige's mouth in an almost unintelligible jumble.

"I have been thinking a lot about what happened with that boy. Going off by yourself because someone threatened Emily was stupid. That is what the police are for."

"I am sorry, sir. I know." Paige wanted to scoff at the uselessness of Rosewood Police but this didn't seem to be the time.

"But I want to thank you for doing it, too. It was brave. She is lucky to have someone so stupid that loves her."

"Thank you, sir." Paige said quietly. Emily and Paige had not reached the "I love you" part of their relationship, yet, but she couldn't deny it was true. She would do it all again… except maybe bring a knife.

"I am willing to forget the little incident from before. You are welcome here at anytime. With Emily's door wide open."

With that he walked away to say goodbye to the other guests leaving Paige to smile widely at her luck. Maybe things did work out.


End file.
